FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP — The Fruitport Township Board of Trustees will decide Monday whether to join Norton Shores in a legal battle against Muskegon Heights over alleged mismanagement of the water system.

Officials of the three communities have been publicly debating several water issues for the past two years. Efforts to negotiate a resolution have been unsuccessful and Norton Shores has since authorized its attorney to sue.

The Fruitport board on Sept. 1 considered joining Norton Shores as a co-plaintiff in the suit, but decided to hash it over another two weeks.

The board wanted to get a recommendation from its department of public works committee and come up with a legal strategy with its attorney before signing on, said Trustee Chris Beck.

Beck said Friday he believes the board is ready to move forward. The issue is on the agenda for Monday's 7 p.m. meeting at township hall.

"What I hope happens is that we as a board come to a full agreement with what Norton Shores is trying to do," he said. "Making the water system as solvent as possible is our goal. There are a lot of communities that rely on that system."

Muskegon Heights owns the water system that serves the three communities. But Norton Shores and Fruitport Township have certain rights by virtue of their contracts to buy water from Muskegon Heights.

At the center of the dispute is whether Muskegon Heights should have to repay, to a joint water system maintenance fund, $138,254 it has collected from renting water tower space to cell phone companies between 2002 and 2008.

Norton Shores and Fruitport Township believe the money should be put back into the fund. Muskegon Heights' position is that the city owns and manages the water facility and the tower revenues belong to the Heights.

The Norton Shores council last month agreed to have its special legal counsel, James Rose, start the process of suing Muskegon Heights.

In an Aug. 27 letter to Fruitport Township Supervisor Ron Cooper, Rose indicated it was time to take the issue to court.

Muskegon Heights plans to hire a Grand Rapids-based law firm to represent the city. The council tentatively approved the hiring of Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett at a recent committee-of-the-whole meeting.